http-equiv='refresh'/> Tin TeePee/Log Cabin: Floating The Suwanee River

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Floating The Suwanee River

The composer Stephen Foster wrote the song Old Folks at Home which made famous the Suwanee River.  There is a Stephen Foster Cultural Center here in northern Florida in spite of the fact Foster never visited Florida and Old Folks At Home is the official state song of Florida.  I think clicking on the name of the song will allow you to hear it.  That’s your little history lesson for the day—now for the fun part—we had a great day floating the Suwanee River!! 

Early this morning we hiked out to little Otter Spring, a little over 4 miles,IMG_2153which seems to have more water than the larger Otter Spring which is part of the park where we are staying.

IMG_2147Doesn’t look as if this bench gets much use—but it would be a great place to sit and contemplate.  We ran into these two fine critters on our walk!IMG_2156

IMG_2362Floating on the Suwanee River, Michael almost got a paddle up side the head—we kept hearing something drop into the water as we went along, I would say, “what was that??”, he would say, “must have been an alligator.”  Yep, he almost got whacked with my paddle!!!!  Well we finally realized it was turtles, millions (not quite) but a bunch of turtles would fall off the logs as we floated along.IMG_2377

IMG_2371We paddled upstream for about 45 minutes, just to see how hard it was, turned out to be not so bad—then we leisurely floated back to our landing spot.  Just the best—total quiet, beautiful scenery, warm sunshine, cooling breeze, a perfect day!!

IMG_2372Otter Spring as it flows into the Suwanne River.

We came home, sat outside—I shouldn’t say anything it will probably make the dang things appear but so far no no-see-um’s!!!  We had popcorn (Michael makes the best popcorn in a pot on the store) and watched Emmi chase her ball around.  JB, what do you think about Emmi’s ball now??IMG_2159She had chewed the handle almost off and Michael finished the job today.  She has amazingly strong teeth for such a little dog. 

We are neither one particular sports fans—but it is the Super Bowl.  We are only about 35 miles from Gainsville so Michael put up our roof antenna and low and behold we can get NBC—had to text message Jim Meachum to find out what network was carrying the game, sad, isn’t it????

A blessed, perfect day here in Florida!

7 comments:

  1. I would have enjoyed that paddle also.

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  2. At home in Bayfield those no see-ums only last about 4 or 5 days. We usually seem to get them about twice a season.

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  3. butterbean carpenterFebruary 5, 2012 at 6:38 PM

    Howdy J&M,
    Liar,liar pants on fire. Michael!!
    It was 12' PYTHONS, splashing the water!!! Turtles slide into the water quietly.. Love those swamp trips and the woodland traipses!!!
    Don't even think of home it's 25*!!
    Have fun and don't worry Jann, just think about those little blacksnakes
    at home you think nothing of.. These
    are just different colors.. They're friendly and like to hug you!!!

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  4. Megs ball never had a handle so hopefully Emmi's will hold up.

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  5. That is an interesting area. We have spent quite some time there over the years, staying at the Music Park campground in Live Oak.

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  6. Beautiful pics of the river but now I'll be humming that darn song for the rest of the day.

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  7. My godfather used to sing that song to me, when we would visit him in Gainsville. Thanks for the memory. In fact I would silently hum Old Folks at Home, while I read your post about your walks in that area.

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